June 1, 2007

Q. I was wondering, could you just talk a little about Corey Perry. It seems to me a lot of teams when they play you they think they can physically intimidate him. Ottawa it seemed try to do it a little more in Game 2 and seems to constantly bounce off after what's dished out to him?
COACH RANDY CARLYLE: Again, Corey Perry is a young player that's experienced a lot at the major junior level as far as success with the London Knights. He's been in intense situations and he's delivered in those situations the Memorial Cup, Finals.
I thought the opportunity for our young players, Corey was one of them, to participate last year in the playoffs and to play a round, actually two rounds in Canadian cities was huge, from a learning standpoint and a development standpoint, of how tough it really is to win in the playoffs, how not to get involved with the distractions that naturally happen when you're in the playoffs or Stanley Cup playoffs. All those he seems to take in stride. His on-ice persona has done the same thing.
He's not the prettiest player, but he's very effective down low with the puck. We call it greasy. He's slippery. He can get in and out on people. And he's got a tremendous set of hands.

Q. I noticed you had 29 guys on the ice today. Is this a philosophy of yours - a lot of coaches like fewer guys on the ice so they can concentrate on things. You obviously have more guys. And also it seemed like a very physical practice today. Was there a reason for that?
COACH RANDY CARLYLE: Well, I didn't deem it physical, personally. We look at it and it was a bunch of regroups and a bunch of shooting drills and a couple of two-on-ones, and that's stuff that we would normally do.
As far as the number of bodies, we felt at the beginning of the year that we were going to try and support our lineup as much as possible with quality players.
And a lot of teams will carry the black aces, as they're called, and they get to skate on their own and do a lot of things on their own. We think that separating those players from our group is not conducive to a strong team-building type of exercise and whatnot.
And if those players are going to play for our hockey club, we'd like them to experience some of the things that happen outside of the game and the lifestyle and what's expected when you're in these pressure situations, and it's more of an education process for them.

Q. Is Kunitz still a long shot or is he any closer after today?
COACH RANDY CARLYLE: I haven't talked to the doctors, but I think it's doubtful because of the situation with his hand. I saw him in the training room trying to get some adjustment made and whatnot.
So I would still say until we get clearance from a doctor, and that's first and foremost, then the decision has to be whether he's in game shape or his hand is this or that.
But at this point we're nowhere near that.

Q. So much is made of these games the first ten minutes and first goals. Coming in here where you have a building that's going to be excited but also a little nervous about the status of their team, do you think you may be able to jump on them, get them out early because of that situation?
COACH RANDY CARLYLE: I'm sure it's every coach's dream to get out and have a good start. And I think that's imperative. It's a starting point and a building point for your group. We're not any different. I'm sure the Ottawa Senators want to have the best start they can possibly. And their hockey club would like a good start also. But one team is not going to. Usually that's what happens.
I thought the start that was displayed in the start of the second game was very rambunctious, there were some solid hits given and taken, and the pace of the game was very, very high for the first 10, 12 minutes. And I would expect that tomorrow also.

Q. Randy, Giguere was talking about after the game the other night that he hopes his teammates don't get caught up in being up 2-0, but also enjoying the experience, having been through it, that he hopes they enjoy it because they may never be back. I wonder if it's possible to balance the two: not being distracted and enjoying it at the same time. And the second question, whether you were enjoying this experience in a way that you thought you might, especially after last year's run?
COACH RANDY CARLYLE: Well, again, the players - we've tried to preach and we've not only preached this from the playoffs but from the start of the season, that we didn't expect our peaks for us to get too high and our valleys for us not to get too low. That if we continued and stayed with that mindset, that when adversity comes and when success comes, that you would remain on an even keel.
There's the outside distractions of having success can be great. And it's one of the things that we've talked about and we'll continue to talk about. You try to implement a structure and a game plan that will always allow your players never get too far ahead. And as a coaching staff, as far as enjoying, coaches enjoy when you win. But when the one's over, won one, the next one is the most important one.
And our preparation, as I stated the other night, starts right after the game and we're allowed that ten minutes of enjoyment or ten minutes of sorrow and then move on, because we know that the next game is the most important one.
We know that the Ottawa Senators will come after us. We know their home crowd will have an influence on their energy level. And we have to be as strong mentally as we've ever been to block that out and play our game.

Q. Almost every team that wins a championship talks about somewhere along the line the killer instinct and taking advantage of the situation. Here you're sitting 2-0, obviously tomorrow night being a huge game. What do you know about your team and the killer instinct that maybe you didn't know before this playoff round?
COACH RANDY CARLYLE: I know that our group is committed to playing our team game. I know that. I know that when adversity has been dealt our way we have found ways to overcome it.
I know that we have a strong leadership group in our room. I know that they're committed to our team game. Other than that, I really couldn't put any other exclamation point on it. That the things that we do and our players within that group, we do it for the good of the team.
If there are sacrifices have to be made, players are willing to do that. They've proven to our group all year and it's not something new that's just happened in the playoffs.

Q. There's some players left from 2003 on this team, and that team went down 0-2 to force a Game 7. Do you use that institutional memory at all to remind your guys that Ottawa is more than capable of doing the same thing?
COACH RANDY CARLYLE: Well, we always remind our players that, again, it goes back to don't get too high or don't get too low. And as far as the players that participated in '03, I think that they're the ones that are at the forefront of our leadership group in making the statement of you don't know when this can happen again.
We're in a unique situation competing for the Stanley Cup. There's some people in the room, coaching staff involved, that have been involved in the pro games for 30 years, and this is our opportunity.
Teemu Selanne is a veteran player, has played 15 years. This is the first opportunity. So all those things are factors. But in reality the things that we have to do and the things that we have to present haven't changed.
We've got to work hard as a group, work for one another, stay committed, play our system and deal with the game as it unfolds and play the best game we possibly can play tomorrow night.
JAMEY HORAN: Thank you, Coach.
Questions for Chris and Ryan.

Q. Chris, I'm wondering, you were in the situation that Ottawa is in last year with Edmonton. You were down 2-0. You went back home, things didn't look great. Can you just put me through the mindset of a team like that when they're down 2-0, and things don't look very good but you were able to get it back to a Game 7?
CHRIS PRONGER: Why should I (laughter)? You know, again, you're going back home. I said it the other night. We're supposed to win our home games much like they're supposed to. It's up to the opposing team to try to steal a game in the other team's building.
Our first step is tomorrow night in Game 3.

Q. I'm wondering if it's the hardest thing you had to do in your career, because of the stakes that were in play?
CHRIS PRONGER: No. We had been in that position earlier in the playoffs against San Jose. And we were down against Detroit as well. So it was a situation we were familiar with and had come through in flying colors before.
It's just a matter of guys in the locker room believing and understanding the situation you're in, and we had a real good group that had that strong belief. And we were fortunate enough to win a couple games to get back into the series and unfortunately we lost in Game 7.

Q. You go into tomorrow night with a real opportunity to sort of put a noose around the Senators. Can you talk about the killer instinct you've shown throughout the playoffs and what that means going into tomorrow?
RYAN GETZLAF: Well, I think that our mentality can't change at all. We gotta go in Game 3 the same way we've been preparing for the last two. I think our guys have done a great job throughout the playoffs in situations where we were going into opposing teams' buildings and able to put together a win. And that's what we need to focus on for Game 3.
CHRIS PRONGER: You can't get caught up. It's only Game 3. We've won our two home games as I mentioned earlier. And to start looking too far ahead, that's when you get into trouble. You gotta worry about the task at hand. That's Game 3 and coming out prepared and focused. They're obviously going to come with their best effort. Their home crowd is going to be behind them. They'll have the energy and the excitement and the buzz behind them.
So they came on pretty hard in our building and we've got to reciprocate and do the same thing.

Q. Ryan, has Ray Emery been tougher to beat than you guys anticipated? Because his play seems to have improved with each series. Has Emery been tougher than you thought he would be so far?
RYAN GETZLAF: Not really. He's exactly what we expected, I think. He's a goalie who pushed through the playoffs and has performed to the best of his ability. He's played some big games for them through these playoffs. We expected that going in.
We've been playing against pretty good goaltenders all the way through here, and nothing changed in this series. He's a great goaltender who competes hard and we just gotta find ways to get pucks behind him.

Q. Ryan, in the last game it seemed like Ottawa was really trying to pick up the physical play. One of the guys they targeted was Corey Perry. Are you surprised at all with the beating he's able to take and just keep on going?
RYAN GETZLAF: Perry is I guess - he's a warrior. He'll battle every night. He's not the biggest guy on the ice, that's for sure. But he can take a licking as well as give it out.
It was great the way he responded, and he played well last game after that first shift he took a couple big hits. Then he laid a couple himself the next couple.
So it was good for him to respond like that.

Q. The Senators had a chance to draft you. And at the time they took a guy that wore a dress and who said, No. 2, nobody ever remembers who gets picked No. 2. Your thoughts on all of that all these years later?
CHRIS PRONGER: Funny how things work out, heh, Steve (laughter)? Again, you're 18 years old. You really don't know what to say I guess in situations like that. And I guess my response is still the same. We'll see what happens in 10 or 15 years. And I guess it's come full circle.
JAMEY HORAN: Thank you, guys. End of FastScripts